
E 







Class __LA.xl:^ 
Book uHi 



Bilingual Teaching in Belgian Schools 



JLonDon: C. J. CLAY and SONS, 

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 

AVE MARIA LANE. 

©laggoto: 50, WELLINGTON STREET. 



!^V'^ 



ILdpjig: F. A. BROCK HAUS. 

^efalork: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Bombag antJ (iTalcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. 



[All Rights resei'ved.'\ 



Bilingual Teaching in 
Belgian Schools 



being 

The Report on a visit to Belgian Schools as Gilchrist 

Travelling Student presented to the Court of 

the University of Wales 



by 

T. R. Dawes, M.A. (Lond.), 

Headmaster of the Pembroke Dock County School. 



'»• > o '.' 



Cambridge : 

At the University Press. 

1902 



u 



^3 






CC CC<*C(fCC< ««€«< 



To the Court of the University of Wales. 

21 Nov. 1900. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

I beg to present my report on Bilingual teaching 
in Belgian schools. In order to pursue my inquiry 
I spent some five weeks in Belgium at the beginning 
of 1899 and eight weeks during the months of July, 
August, and September. I visited elementary schools, 
secondary schools of various types, normal schools, 
and universities in different parts of Belgium, and had 
interviews with Inspectors, Journalists, Business men. 
Professors, and Schoolmasters. The Minister of 
Education provided me with letters of introduction 
to the various schools, where I was invariably gladly 
welcomed and all information was placed at my dis- 
posal. I received most valuable help and guidance 
from Messrs Michael Sadler and R. L. Morant of 
the Inquiry Department of the Board of Education. 
I was fortunate in being present at examinations 
in the different schools and at conferences of the 
teachers. During the whole of my visit schools of 
the various types were open save for a fortnight, 



which I spent in the Public Libraries at Brussels 
and in attending conferences of teachers. 

I am deeply grateful to the Court for the oppor- 
tunity I have enjoyed of seeing the schools of 
Belgium and of familiarizing myself with the Flemish 
language. I trust that my report may have some 
effect in developing the teaching of Modern Lan- 
guages according to the best methods, and of showing 
that the utilization for educational purposes of the 
native language of a country — though this language 
may not be widely used outside its borders — tends 
to aid the acquisition of other Modern Languages. 

I am, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Your obedient Servant, 

T. R. DAWES. 



THE LANGUAGES OF BELGIUM. 

Two races having widely different characteristics 
are united under the name Belgian. The Flemings, 
who are the most numerous, are a race of German 
extraction, brothers to the Dutch of the neighbouring 
kingdom of Holland, speaking the Low German 
language Flemish, which is practically identical with 
Dutch, and inhabiting the North- Western portion of 
Belgium, north of a line drawn through Courtraie 
and Louvain, and a small portion of Flanders now 
forming part of France. The Walloons, south of 
this line, are French alike in race and language, and 
while the sympathies of the Flemings lean to Holland 
and Germany, those of the Walloons turn rather to 
France. French and Flemish are thus the languages 
of Belgium. It is true that a French patois is spoken 
by many Walloons in the South, but this has no 
literature, and is merely a corrupt form of French. 
German is also spoken by many Belgians near the 
frontier of Germany— but when Belgium is termed 
a bilingual country the languages referred to are 
French and Flemish. 



8 

Though the majority of Belgians are Flemings 
the official language of Belgium was for many years 
French, and is so to a certain extent at the present 
time ; but the progress of the Flemish movement 
which has for its object the maintenance of the 
Flemish tongue in Flanders, and indeed the spread 
of the language throughout Belgium, has brought 
about great changes, and tends to make the Belgians 
more and more a bilingual people. A glance at 
Belgium's chequered history accounts for the domi- 
nant position that French has held. Perhaps no 
country in Europe has seen such changes of govern- 
ment, such a variety of rulers as Belgium — at any 
rate during the last three centuries. In the seven- 
teenth century it formed a part of the Spanish 
dominions, then, after coming under Austrian rule, 
it formed part of the French Empire till the Battle 
of Waterloo, when it was united with Holland and the 
two countries constituted the monarchy of Holland 
and Belgium. This kingdom only lasted till 1830. 

Numerous grievances, such as the favouritism 
shown to Hollanders in all official positions, created 
great disaffection amongst the Belgians, and this 
feeling at length culminated in the revolution of 
1830, when Belgium was again dissevered from 
Holland and became under King Leopold an inde- 
pendent kingdom. During these centuries Flemish 
always remained the language of the great majority 
of the people, but the language of the government. 



of administration, of the law courts, of the schools, 
and generally of the upper classes, was French. 
During more than two centuries the religious cor- 
porations, who possessed the monopoly of education, 
had proscribed the Flemish (Dutch) language from 
hatred of the Dutch heretics who published Bibles 
and books judged dangerous for the Catholic faith, 
and thus the upper and middle classes, educated in 
schools in which the language was French, discarded 
Flemish and learned to despise it. The " masses " 
retained their native tongue ; but their children for 
the most part received no education ; the national 
schools charged fees they could not pay, and the 
teaching was in a language they did not understand. 
The .French revolutionists were no more favourable 
to Flemish than the Church had been. They strove 
to substitute French, the language in which the 
republican laws were written and which they believed 
had a special virtue as an instrument of emanci- 
pation, for Flemish, which they regarded as one of 
a number of insignificant idioms only fit to express 
servile sentiments and retrograde ideas. Thus a 
Report prepared in 1790 says, "The great crime of 
patois is that they prevent the political amalgam. 
They keep people away from the truth. The fusion 
of all classes and of all provinces, in one uniform 
nation, will be the fruit of the unity of language." 
The French were, however, unsuccessful in seeking to 
substitute French for Flemish as the language of the 



lO 

people. In 1830, when Belgium became an inde- 
pendent kingdom, Flemish still maintained its position 
as the language of the people of Flanders, but it had 
degenerated from want of culture and become im- 
poverished. The official language of the country 
was French. But since 1830 a great popular move- 
ment in favour of the use of Flemish in Flanders has 
sprung up and achieved numerous reforms. The 
motto of this Flemish movement is " In Flanders 
Flemish," and Flemish has in later years become 
more and more the language of the Law Courts 
and of Government officials. No judge or advocate 
can now be appointed in Flanders unless he has 
a knowledge of Flemish. " We object," say the 
Flemings, "to be judged by men whom we pay 
but do not understand." In the Communes, in the 
primary and secondary schools, and in the army, 
Flemish has to some extent taken the place of 
French. The streets throughout Belgium are named 
in both languages, and all official documents, in- 
cluding the official Monitor^ are published in both 
languages, generally in parallel columns. The 
Flemish tongue is spoken by greater numbers now 
than at the beginning of the century ; the Flemish 
papers, such as the Handelsblad of Antwerp, have 
a very large circulation ; important works in all 
branches of literature and science are written in 
Flemish, and Flemish plays are performed in the 
theatres. Especially remarkable is the progress of 



Flemish in the secondary schools of the Walloon 
district, and the desire shown by the directing 
classes that their children shall acquire a good know- 
ledge of Flemish in the schools. The prejudice 
formerly felt against Flemish dies away as its utility 
in a country which is becoming more and more 
bilingual manifests itself. The Walloons are taunted 
to-day with their quickness in learning Flemish when 
an official position is at stake. It would now be 
impossible for an official to protest against the teach- 
ing of Flemish in the public schools of Brussels lest 
"the learning of this patois should spoil the French 
accent of the children"; neither would a Burgo- 
master of Brussels assert, " there are no Flemings in 
Brussels." A general conference held each year of 
those interested in preserving for Flemish Belgium 
its native language has had great influence in pro- 
moting this object ; and one striking proof of the 
conviction held by the Government that this national 
feeling must be conciliated was the appointment of 
the great Flemish novelist Conscience as teacher of 
Flemish to the royal princes. 

The struggle between the two languages has 
naturally produced bitter feeling in Belgium as the 
language fights always have done in Austria, Cape 
Colony, etc. ; " When the question of language comes 
up in parliament," said the President, "everyone 
speaks at once, and we can understand nothing." 

The Flemings taunt the Walloons with being the 



12 

party of France seeking to rob a Dutch race of its 
mother tongue, desiring to bring free Belgium again 
under the centralizing tyranny of France. The ardent 
Fleming is accused on the other hand of preferring 
a mere dialect, with little or no literature and un- 
known outside narrow limits, to a world language so 
highly developed, so widely spoken, and with such 
a magnificent literature as the French. The Walloon 
stigmatizes the Fleming as a " Flamingant"; the 
Fleming nicknames the Walloon "Fransquillon." The 
Flemish party formed a procession to go to Waterloo 
to celebrate the deliverance of Belgium from French 
tyranny ; the Walloons organized a counter demon- 
stration at Jemappes to show their sympathy with 
France. So keen is the feeling against the French 
language among some distinguished Flemings, that 
the great Flemish poet Hiel, an ardent Flamingant, 
is said to have consistently pretended he did not 
understand French ; while in an interview I was 
fortunate enough to obtain with a very distinguished 
Flemish poet, M. Pol de Mont, he immediately 
turned our conversation from French to German, 
apologising for his inability to converse in English. 

Generally speaking, however, the partisans of 
each language now acknowledge the claims of the 
other, and the aim is rather to make educated 
Belgium bilingual than to give predominance- to 
either language. 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

Elementary Education in Belgium is free but not 
compulsory. There has been a strong movement for 
years to make elementary education compulsory, and 
indeed compulsory education is an article of faith 
of the Liberal party in Belgium, but at the present 
time the achievement of this object seems distant. 
It is not surprising, therefore, to find that as regards 
elementary education Belgium falls far behind most 
European countries. A glance at the following figures, 
showing the number of illiterates per thousand in 
various continental armies, gives an idea of Belgium's 
position : 

Illiterates per thousand soldiers. 

Belgium 130 

France 74 

Switzerland 8 

Denmark 2 

In the large towns, however, such as Brussels and 
Antwerp, where the Communes make great sacrifices 
for elementary education, and where there are ex- 
cellent elementary and higher elementary schools, the 
attendance is fairly satisfactory, since the parents 
realize the importance of education. The programme 
of the instruction varies greatly in different localities, 
each Commune making its own programme. The 
Belgians highly prize the great communal liberty 



14 

which they enjoy and do not share in the French love 
of centralization and unity in education. In the 
country districts of Flanders the only language taught 
in the elementary school is Flemish, and little is done 
for French, it being felt that with the time at the 
disposal of the school no serious progress can be 
made with a second language. In some village 
schools, however, I found French lessons given after 
school hours, and for these a charge was made ; in 
other villages again, where the population was con- 
siderably mixed, the second language was a part of 
the ordinary school work. In Brussels, which pro- 
vides the best instances of bilingual elementary 
schools, I found that pupils leaving the elementary 
schools had a good knowledge of both French and 
Flemish. In these schools the methods employed 
are especially worthy of note. The following is a 
typical programme of the hours allotted to languages 
in the primary schools of Brussels : 

Hours per week. 





I St 

year 


2nd 
year 


3rd 
year 


4th 
year 


5th 
year 


6th 
year 


Mother tongue 

Second language 


10^ 

3 


9 

5 


1\ 
4h 


7 
4h 


6 

3^ 


7 
4h 


Total hours in school ) 
per week j 


29i 


a9i 


29i 


3o| 


3ii 


33i 



NoU. — Pupils enter at the age of six and the course 
lasts six years. 



15 

In Antwerp, where there is much less French than 
at Brussels, the mother tongue is Flemish ; in Brussels, 
however, the schools tlPiaV I visited were very mixed, 
and the Walloons had separate classes from the 
Flemings until the 4th year, when the classes were 
mixed and the school language for the last three 
years was French. Many lessons were given for half 
the time in one language and then repeated in the 
other; pupils in the higher classes conversed freely 
in both languages. Of course, in a town like Brussels, 
where the two languages are so much heard, the 
children are continually called upon to use both 
languages, the utility and indeed the necessity of 
knowing them is impressed upon the pupils, and this 
has a great effect on their progress. 

The following is the programme of hours allotted 
to languages in the primary schools of Antwerp : 



Hours per week. 





I St 

year 


2nd 
year 


3rd 

year 


4th 
year 


5th 
year 


6th 
year 


Mother tongue (Flemish) 
French 


10 


10 


6 

5 


6 

5 


6 
6 


6 

6 


Total school hours 


28 


28 


31 


31 


34 


34 



In Antwerp the language of the people is Flemish ; 
French is more or less a foreign tongue, and I did not 
find children using French at all freely, though those 
pupils who go on to the higher elementary school 



i6 

gain a good knowledge of French. In the schools 
of Antwerp little French is heard outside of the 
French lessons. 

Great efforts are made, as I have shown in my 
account of the lessons, to make the teaching of the 
second language a real knowledge of the spoken 
language, and though in many cases the masters 
adhered to the grammatical exercises and transla- 
tions with which we have long been familiar, yet 
great efforts are being made by the Inspectors and 
central authorities to introduce the direct method. 
In the Teachers' Guide published by the Commune 
of Brussels, which contains the programme for the 
school year with a valuable exposition of the methods 
to be employed in teaching the various subjects, the 
following instructions are printed with regard to the 
teaching of the second language : 

" The second language should be taught by the 
natural or direct method. This method consists in 
teaching a language without having recourse to 
translation, save when it is necessary to establish 
a close and direct communication between words and 
ideas. The teacher must proceed intuitively and pro- 
gressively. The basis of study will be the common 
vocabulary, and the principal lessons will be in all 
classes lessons of intuition and in the use of the 
language. These lessons will treat of notions familiar 
to the children (the family, furniture, clothes, etc.), or 
of subjects which have already been taught in the 



I? 

mother tongue. The whole attention will thus be 
concentrated on the correct pronunciation of the 
words and on the construction of the phrases. The 
teacher must strive to put before the eyes of the 
pupils the objects of which he speaks, or representa- 
tions of them by models or drawings ; to grasp the 
verbs the action must if possible be performed, for 
the adjectives the method will be to show several 
objects which have a common quality. In a word, 
the teacher of the second language will proceed by 
the best of all methods, that which a mother uses 
instinctively when she teaches her child to speak." 

Visits to Elementary Schools. Rue Six Jetons 
(girls). Inspector de Vos advised me to pay my 
first visit to this school, and I found the lessons here 
typical of the best methods of giving pupils from 
the outset such practice in speaking as well as in 
writing as leads to really acquiring a modern language. 
The pupils are Walloons and Flemings, and there are 
two sets of classes in the lower part of the school, the 
Walloons being taught in French, the Flemings in 
their own language, till at the age of nine the school 
language is entirely French, save in the teaching 
of Flemish. In the lowest class (first year) there 
were 36 Flemish pupils on the day of my visit, the 
average age being about seven. The teacher — a lady 
— had pinned a coloured picture of a cock to the 
blackboard, and this formed the subject for a lively 
lesson carried on entirely in French. The various 
D. 2 



parts of the bird — the beak, the crest, the eye, the 
wing, the tail, etc. — were named and pointed out. 
The teacher pointed to the tail for instance, saying 
in French, " This is the tail " : then the class repeated 
after her, " Mademoiselle, it is the tail." Next the 
colour of these parts was pointed out. By changing 
the verb all the parts were repeated again, and the 
pupils were called out to point out or touch the leg, 
the beak, the tail, etc., and later the pronoun was 
altered so that the class said, " Nous montrons la 
queue, la tete," and so on. The teacher took ad- 
vantage of the colours to call for articles of the same 
colour in the class, and thus arrived at such sentences 
as, " I show the red ribbon of Marie," or, " We show 
John's black tie." The names of the female, of the 
cry, of the food of the cock, were introduced and the 
lesson was very full and very lively. The pupils 
then sang at my request some songs in French and 
Flemish, and the accent certainly gains much from 
the singing. 

In the next class there were 36 girls, the average age 
between seven and eight. The teacher had a series of 
pictures illustrating a simple story, and these pictures 
were shown to the children in succession. The first 
showed a little girl playing with her doll, while a dog 
and a kitten looked on. After pointing out and 
naming all that was on the first picture the teacher 
showed another picture. The little girl had gone and 
the dog and the kitten sat looking at the doll. In the 



19 

next picture they had seized the doll and begun play- 
ing with it. Then the picture was changed again, 
and we saw the doll torn to pieces, while the dog 
and the kitten, looking somewhat remorseful and 
shamefaced, regarded the mischief they had caused. 
The little girl returned and the dog and the kitten 
were punished. The class maintained the keenest 
interest as each successive picture was shown, and 
the teacher, largely by means of questions, unfolded 
the story, speaking nothing but French. Many 
words and phrases were introduced into the lesson, 
new words being continually written on the black- 
board. The story was then gone over again, this 
time in Flemish, and afterwards the children were 
required to write in French and also in Flemish an 
account of the incident. Such a lesson was a striking 
proof of the interest which children may be induced 
to take in a language lesson, and the apparatus re- 
quired is of the simplest, but such lessons naturally 
desiderate a teacher fully acquainted with both lan- 
guages. In this class again the children recited and 
sang in both languages and with good accent. In 
the third year pictures were again employed. The 
lesson I attended was on Natural History, and the 
first picture showing a serpent and a frog with a 
landscape in the background served to introduce 
a number of animals and geographical terms. Oc- 
casion was taken to describe the movements of the 
frog, the frog leaps, a man walks, etc., and no doubt 

2 — 2 



20 

many words were used which the class did not com- 
prehend at the moment, though through constant 
repetition, they seemed to grasp the words, the names 
of the animals, and the verbs associated with the 
different movements very rapidly. The lesson was 
given in French, then given again in Flemish, and 
the composition set in both languages. 

In the highest class of the school (31 girls of 
14 years) the same method was employed. The 
picture in this case represented a woman and a child 
at sea in a boat. They pass several ships, which are 
described, go on board one, and then return to land. 
Opportunity was thus given to describe the sea, the 
weather, the various kinds of ships and the sailors. 
The whole lesson was afterwards written out as 
a composition, first in Flemish and afterwards in 
French. 

In the Rue Six Jetons school (boys) great stress 
is laid on action in language teaching. Various acts 
are performed by the class, and by individual mem- 
bers of the class, and the description of these actions 
is immediately associated with them. Thus in the 
lowest class of young Walloons, the pupils played at 
shop. The only language used was Flemish, not a 
word of French being permitted. Several articles 
were placed on the table before the class, and then 
a boy stood up and came before the class, describing 
in sentences each action. " I stand up, I leave my 
seat, I come before the class. I salute my teacher." 



The class in answer to the teacher's question de- 
scribed all these actions in the third person. '' He 
stands up, he comes before the class, he salutes his 
teacher." Then the boy took up the various articles 
on the table, " I sell chalk, a penholder, a pencil, ink, 
paper," the class repeating in the third person these 
statements, " He sells chalk," etc. In order to fix 
these words and phrases in the mind another boy 
performed the same series of actions, the class again 
repeating all in the third person. With two boys the 
acts of selling and buying were performed, the one 
asking for a piece of chalk, paper, etc., and the other 
giving him each article, saying at the time, " I sell 
a piece of chalk," etc., while the class took a part in 
the proceedings, describing the action in the third 
person. Money was also introduced and the verbs 
buying, selling, holding, paying were fully learned by 
the pupils by the end of the lesson. In another class 
the spinning of a top formed the subject. A boy 
comes out, takes a top out of his pocket and spins 
it before the class. Such a simple action introduces 
a good number of words — tie, wind, throw, spin ; and 
the teacher took the occasion to talk of the danger of 
spinning tops in the street, explaining why it is for- 
bidden, all the time questioning the class and giving 
them a real share in the work of the lesson. The 
lighting of a match proved a very fruitful theme. The 
most lively class was the next one, in which two boys 
lay down on chairs in front of the class. The alarm 



22 

of fire is raised, both spring up, pull on their coats, 
one goes for the fire-engine, the firemen come up with 
imaginary cans and extinguish the flames. It is 
certainly very necessary in such lessons that the 
teacher should be a good disciplinarian ; but with 
a good master the system worked admirably and 
afforded a good deal of amusement, while the words 
were vividly grasped and retained. 

The visitor to Brussels who only sees the principal 
Boulevards, the great thoroughfares and the resi- 
dential quarter full of boarding-houses and hotels, 
and who hears on all sides little but French, might 
easily form a very erroneous idea of the language of 
a large proportion of the people. A few minutes' 
walk, however, from the principal station leads over 
a canal bridge through busy streets crowded with carts 
and waggons into the industrial district of Molenbeck 
St Jear, where French gives place to Flemish. Here 
one is as much in Flanders as at Antwerp. In- 
spector de Vos had advised me to study two schools 
especially, one in a thoroughly French district, the 
other in a Flemish district. The excellent school at 
Molenbeck showed with what success children in this 
Flemish quarter, following the course of an elementary 
school up to the limit of 14, could be taught to read, 
write and converse in two languages. The day 
I spent at this admirable school left on my mind 
a deep impression of the magnificent work carried 
on by the Director and his staff. One point calls for 



special comment. In the whole school there were 
very few absentees ; in many of the larger classes, 
none. This is remarkable in a country where there 
is no compulsion to attend school, and where the 
Director has to rely on his own influence on the 
children and on their parents. By means of con- 
tinual letters to the parents and the influence he has 
with them and the pupils,' the Director has been able 
to ensure a regular attendance of practically all the 
pupils in the school. 

The lowest class was taught by a mistress. Pupil 
teachers are unknown in Belgium. The youngest 
children require the most skilled teachers and women 
are most successful with the beginners. The class of 
35 boys of about six years was in excellent order and 
keenly interested in the lesson. The mistress called 
a boy out to the platform in front of the class, and 
pointing to his head, said in French, "What is this ? " 
The answer came from one of the pupils, " Made- 
moiselle, it is the head," and then, pointing to the 
arms, the legs, back, etc., the pupils named the various 
parts of the body, sometimes answering all together, 
or as called on by the mistress. And so with articles 
of clothing. " What am I pointing at ? " showing a 
boy's collar. "Mademoiselle, it is a collar." "Who 
has a collar besides ? " " Mademoiselle, I have a 
collar" ; and then a tie, pocket, waistcoat, etc., colours 
and numbers were introduced into the lesson. Point- 
ing to a red tie, the teacher asked, " What colour is 



24 

this tie ? " and then, " Who else has a red tie, who 
has a blue tie, who has a green tie ? " Different pupils 
were called on in succession to come before the class, 
to set questions to the others, and at times the whole 
class answered together. There was no word of 
Flemish spoken, and the whole class was kept vigor- 
ously occupied. One boy recited with a good accent 
and suitable gestures a poem in French, another in 
Flemish, and the class sang in both languages. 

In another lesson given to children of seven years 
the lantern was used to show in succession a number 
of pictures illustrating an adventure in which a dog 
saved the life of a child. In the course of seven 
pictures Remy and his brother are seen out for a 
walk with a large dog. The little boy falls into the 
river while trying to pick a water-lily, and is saved 
by the dog. Then a man, attracted by the cries of 
Remy, comes up, and carries the dripping child home, 
and his mother puts him to bed, the final scene 
showing the dog petted and caressed by the family, 
while the child is sitting up in bed, drinking warm 
gruel. The whole incident was related by the teacher 
in Flemish, the class being continually questioned on 
each scene. Then the scenes were gone through again, 
this time in French, the teacher continually talking 
and making the class answer in French and repeat 
the names of different actions. The lesson was ex- 
ceedingly lively and the class brisk and active the 
whole time. 



25 

It is obvious that such teaching makes a great 
strain on the teacher ; the results achieved are very 
remarkable. 

In another class the cries of different animals 
were gone through, each word being written on the 
board in both languages, and later, sentences were 
written on the board and exercises formed by chang- 
ing the person or the number in each sentence. 

In another class the pupils were exercised in 
changing the persons and numbers of the extract 
written on the board. The pronunciation in the 
school was particularly good, and this was attributed 
by the Director to the care given to the sounds at 
the early stages. One of the masters has invented 
a system by which each sound is connected with a 
manual sign, and as far as possible the sign repre- 
sents the form of the mouth in uttering the sound. 
The study of phonetics though not connected with 
the usual phonetic alphabet has certainly produced 
CTood results at this school. 

A good method for training learners in the right 
use of the verbs and especially the past participles 
was employed. A long extract had been written on 
the board, each of the verbs having been changed 
into the infinitive and underlined. It then became 
an admirable exercise for the pupils to put these in- 
finitives into the correct form, reasons for the change 
being given, the whole discussion between pupils and 
teacher beincr carried on in French. 



26 

Also in Dictation the method of correcting was 
worthy of notice. While the class wrote the dicta- 
tion one pupil had done so on the blackboard, which 
was turned away from the class. When the dictation 
was finished the teacher turned the board and the 
class pointed out the mistakes on the board, different 
pupils coming out and making the corrections. These 
corrections were made at the end of a few sentences, 
which seems preferable to waiting till the effort of 
thought in writing a particular word is forgotten. 

In another class, which was occupied in reading 
from a book of selections, frequent appeals were 
made by the teacher (in French always) for the 
plural of particular nouns, or the masculine or femi- 
nine of words occurring. Invariably a phrase was 
demanded and the subject-matter afforded oppor- 
tunity for questions and conversation. 

Throughout all the classes in this school recitations 
and the rendering of part-songs formed a great feature. 

In the top class of a school I heard a lesson in 
Mathematics in which the pupils showed that they 
could carry on calculations with rapidity and accuracy 
both in Flemish and in French. 

The Geography lesson, in which the lantern was 
used, was exceedingly interesting and gave the class 
a good idea of such towns in Belgium as were of 
particular historical or economic business interest. 
This lesson was given entirely in French, which now 
seemed quite familiar to the young Flemings. 



27 

At Bruges I visited the elementary school for boys 
with the Director of the schools. The other elementary 
schools of the district are all under his direction, a 
system which obtains also in Switzerland. The boys 
remain generally at school until the age of 14 but 
they do not speak French at all. In school they use 
Flemish and manage to read French with capital 
accent, but here I think it is evident that with the 
modern methods the pupils would learn to speak as 
well as to read French. 

The girls, on the other hand, understood much 
more quickly, followed a lesson given in French, 
and spoke well. 

They begin in the lower classes with lessons on 
the various parts of the body, the articles of the 
schoolroom, and then later the playground, the street, 
the home. Even in the girls' kindergarten one finds 
that French is spoken. There was a striking dif- 
ference between the boys and the girls at Bruges, 
principally arising no doubt from the greater zeal 
with which the girls follow the language lessons, the 
utility of French being more apparent in the case of 
girls likely to be in service in a family where French 
is used, than to boys who become workmen in Flanders 
and rarely use French. Even if the boys learn French 
at school and acquire a certain proficiency, they often 
forget it in after life. In the country districts Flemish 
is the usual language, and when as in England we 
find that pupils forget in after life the lessons learnt 



28 



at school, when we find that reading and writing are 
almost totally forgotten, it is not surprising that a 
second language frequently leaves small traces be- 
hind. 

In the Elementary Schools at Antwerp I found 
little worthy of note in the teaching of French. 
Inspector Daems, who exercises supervision over all 
the primary schools at Antwerp, told me that the 
pupils in the elementary schools make but little 
progress in French unless they remain at school 
the full time, and then go on to the ecole primaire 
superieure. The pupils, however, who follow con- 
tinuation classes in French immediately after leaving 
the primary school, manage to speak French fairly 
well. The programme stipulates that the instruc- 
tion in French shall be oral, that as little as pos- 
sible shall be done by books and that pupils shall 
hear only French in the class-room. A more highly 
educated body of teachers is required to carry out 
such a programme efficiently. Inspector Daems 
thinks that if the pupils talked French in the play- 
ground, where each pupil could try to express his 
ideas without the restraint of the master, much greater 
progress would be made. Pictures are used to some 
extent in Antwerp in giving instruction in the second 
language, but not with sufficient intelligence. A 
mixture of the old and new methods is very com- 
mon. Thus a master says the word "pere " for 
" father," and then writes it on the board. A picture 



29 

of a father and son should be shown, and the teacher 
should point to the father and say " pere," to the son 
and say " fils." It is not enough for the Government 
to recommend the intuitive method to masters who 
are not able to realize its advantages. The walls of 
Belgian schools are covered with historical pictures, 
but the pupils do not always know what these 
pictures represent In spite of the efforts of the 
authorities the teaching of History and Geography 
is in many cases a teaching of words, a teaching 
which conveys no definite impression to the mind. 

In Antwerp, it is worthy of note, the primary 
education is free to all parents who apply for it. In 
the rest of Belgium those parents pay whose rates 
are above a certain figure. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION. 



The secondary schools of Belgium are of two 
types, the Ecoles moyennes (Middle Schools), and 
the Athenees (Higher Secondary Schools). The 
Ecole moyenne has a course of three years, and 
pupils must be at least ii years old on entering. 
The leaving age at the Ecole moyenne is generally 
about 1 6. There is also in general a preparatory 
section attached to the school — the entrance age for 
which is six years. This preparatory section cor- 
responds to the elementary schools. Appended is a 
time-table of the Ecole moyenne. 

Ho Ill's per week. 



Religion. 
French . 
Flemish . 



History 

Geography 

Mathematics 

Natural Science ... 

Book-keeping and 

Commercial Law^ 

Drawing 



ist year 


2nd year 


3rd year 


2 


2 


2 


8 


7 


6 


6 


6 


6 


2 


2 


2 


I 


I 


I 


4 


'^ 


6 


2 


2 


2 


— 




^ 


1 


2 


2 



English, German and Music are optional in addition 
to the above. In Walloon districts German may be 
substituted for Flemish. Gymnastics. Three hours 
during recreation. 



The fees varv in different districts, the averao;e 
being about £2, per annum. 

French is everywhere the language of the second- 
ary school, but in the playground and streets of such 
Flemish towns as Antwerp the pupils talk Flemish 
constantly. Save in the South where German is 
chosen, the second language is almost invariably 
Flemish. In Flanders Flemish is used in teaching 
German and English, the two languages with which it 
has most affinity, and in the lessons in History, Geo- 
graphy and Natural Science. These schools are 
therefore bilingual : both languages are constantly 
heard and used by the pupils. It is evident that 
under such conditions there is a great inducement 
to make the language lessons a real introduction to 
the spoken language. Knowledge which is confined 
to sentences of the kind with which the exercise 
books have made us familiar, and which is quite 
divorced from ordinary life, is immediately seen to 
be useless. This constant linguistic training in the 
schools must have a great influence in producing the 
remarkable ease with which Belgians, more especially 
Flemings, acquire modern languages. 

Since the knowledge of Flemish has become abso- 
lutely indispensable in many professions, and above 
all in the legal profession, the schools have devoted 
themselves all over Belgium to giving the pupils a 
thorough practical knowledge of the two languages. 



A thenees. 

In the Athenees there is a seven years' course, the 
age of pupils being generally ii — 18; the following is 
the time-table : 

Walloon District Athenees. 
I. Classical Section. 





ist 2nd i 3rd 
year year year 


4th 5th 
year year 


6th 
year 


7th 
year 


Religion 


6 

7 

I 
3 

2 


2 
7 

6 

5 

I 
3 

— 
2 


2 

5 
3 

3 

2 

I 
3 

2 


2 
8 


2 
8 


2 
8 
5 
3 
3 
2 
I 

3 

2 


2 
8 
5 
3 
3 
2 
I 

3 

2 


Latin 


Greek 


French 


3 i 3 

3 : 3 

1 

2 1 2 

1 i I 

3 1 3 

2 1 2 

1 


Flemish or) 

German / 

History 

Geography 

Mathematics 

Natural Science 

Drawing 


Total number ) ^ 

of lessons... j" j "^ ^^ "9 


29 29 


29 


29 



In the Flemish district Flemish is obligatory, and 
also one other Teutonic language, either English or 
German. 

Additional languages are optional both in the 
Flemish and Walloon districts. 

II. Latin Section. 

In this section there is no Greek — the time is 
given to Mathematics and Science. 



33 

III. Modern Section. 

No Latin — hours given to Modern Languages 
and commercial or scientific subjects. 

The leaving examination consists of two parts, 
the one a written examination of the type familiar to 
English schools, and the oral examination to which only 
those pupils are admitted who have gained 50 ^7o iriarks 
in the written examination. The oral examinations, 
at two of which I was present, are conducted by a 
committee of the principal teachers (heads of depart- 
ments) of the school presided over by a member of 
the Commune. In the modern language the exami- 
nation was conducted entirely in the language taught 
by the teacher, and such an examination brings out 
well all the pupil knows, and gives the teacher oppor- 
tunities of touching on work to which he has devoted 
particular attention. The diploma mentions that 
the pupil has followed the course of studies in an 
Athenee or Ecole moyenne " avec fruit," " avec grand 
fruit," or " avec le plus grand fruit." Pupils are 
not admitted to examinations unless they have fol- 
lowed a course for three years in the case of the 
Ecoles moyennes and six years in the case of the 
Athenees. 

In spite of the strenuous efforts to impress on 
parents the advisability of pupils following the whole 
course so as to attain the diploma of the leaving 
examination, the tendency to leave the schools too 
early is continually deplored. 

D. 3 



34 

The study of the elements of four languages at 
the same time is discouraged. Pupils must have 
gained a certain percentage of marks for two lan- 
guages before they are allowed to proceed to the 
third and fourth. 

The following are general instructions published 
with regard to the teaching of modern languages in 
secondary schools : 

" The object to be attained by the study of living 
languages is, independently of the general culture to 
which this part of the programme should contribute 
equally with the others, a sufficient knowledge of the 
foreign idiom not only to read it without effort and 
to enjoy its literature, but also to speak it and write 
it without too great difficulty. This double object 
indicates the method to be followed. 

(i) Grammar and Vocabulary, theory and appli- 
cation will always be united. 

(2) Grammar will not be cut up into sections. 
Omitting from the commencement peculiarities and 
exceptions, the teacher will give what is essential, 
the general and indispensable rules, leaving till 
later the correct writing of the language and 
syntax. 

(3) The reading book will serve as basis and 
pivot for the exercises in conversation. 

(4) Dictation will be employed in the lower 
classes to form the ear, and will serve at the same 
time as an exercise in pronunciation," etc., etc. 



35 

In the triennial Report published in 1899 the work 
of the Walloon schools in Flemish is criti- 
cised as follows, " The written language is taught 
in a satisfactory manner and the number of young 
persons capable of properly expressing their ideas 
increases from year to year. Is this true for the 
spoken language'^ It suffices to know that the method 
based on translation and the study of grammar, to 
the exclusion of exercises in speaking, is still in 
force in the greater part of the Athenees to be able 
to reply negatively." Again in speaking of German 
and English the Report says, " The majority of 
teachers considering that the translation, the exercise 
and the essay, which are the tests in the general 
examination, are the great objects to be realized, 
exercise the pupils particularly in translating and 
writing correctly. Doubtless there is reason to con- 
gratulate them on the zeal which they have shown, 
and the results which they have obtained ; but they 
lose sight of the fact that the teaching of living 
languages differs essentially from that of dead 
languages 

" It is a commonplace that the pupil cannot learn 
to speak a language if he has not heard it spoken by 
his master." 

In the visits which I have described to secondary 
schools, it will be seen that the direct method is 
already much in use and it is gaining ground 
rapidly. 

3—2 



36 

Athmee Roy ale at Brussels. 

I first attended a lesson given to 17 pupils aged 
18, which consisted of dictation and paraphras- 
ing. The mother tongue of the class was evidently 
French, but the pupils expressed themselves with 
ease in Flemish, and had no difficulty in finding 
synonyms for the classical Flemish of the portion 
set as an exercise. The piece chosen served as a 
subject for conversation. The master told me that 
for the first three months no books are used ; appeal 
is made solely to the ear. 

In the higher class five pupils aged 17 were study- 
ing an English novel and the professor spoke in 
English the whole time, paraphrasing the more diffi- 
cult parts and gave synonyms for unusual expres- 
sions. An excellent choice had been made with 
regard to the text-books, Vice- Versa by Anstey 
afforded a large number of colloquialisms which the 
pupils put into more usual English. In the preced- 
ing year The Rivals had been chosen. Here, as 
everywhere on the Continent, the choice of text-books 
is left entirely to the professor, and as far as I saw, 
excellent books had been selected. One pupil gave 
a resume of the previous chapter and another 
described the various characters of the book, while 
a third described the plot of the whole novel. 

In the third class of 12 boys aged about 14, the 
English language was employed during the lesson. 
An extract had been written on the board and after 



Z7 

It had been read, particular words were taken and 
explained. After the piece had been thoroughly dis- 
cussed, one boy dictated it to the whole class while 
another wrote on the board. In another class Three 
Midshipmen by Kingston was being studied. The 
master was convinced of the advantage to the pupils 
being bilingual, and he thought that the Flemings 
had an advantage over the Walloons since they 
acquire both German and English much more easily 
than the Walloons, who more nearly resemble the 
French in their linguistic habits. The Flemings have 
always felt the absolute need of French— a second 
language is imperative to them; until lately the Wal- 
loons considered the Flemish a dying language, a 
patois which it was beneath their dignity to acquire. 
Motives of expediency, however, have completely 
changed the attitude of the Walloons, and Flemish 
is almost as eagerly studied in the schools as 
French. 

At the secondary school for girls of which Made- 
moiselle Gatti de Gamond is Headmistress I attended 
some excellent lessons. This school has a very high 
reputation in Belgium. 

The first lesson in Flemish to four girls (aged 17) 
consisted of the paraphrasing and discussion of a 
poem by the Flemish poet Hiel. The Walloons in 
the class had a remarkable knowledge of Flemish, 
and the teacher, a daughter of the poet, discussed 
with the pupils the subject-matter of the poem— the 



38 

grammatical points being explained thoroughly on 
the blackboard. 

The German lesson which I heard given to 
pupils of i6 was in the series system familiar to 
English people as the Gouin method. The action 
described was that of a person going to the railway 
station in a strange city — the teacher first stated the 
different steps : 

I am in a strange city. 

I do not know the way. 

I want to go to the railway station. 

I must ask my way. 

I meet a lady. 

I accost her. 

I ask my way to the station. 

She tells me the second turning to the left and 
then the first to the right. 

I thank her. 

I take the second turning to the left. 

I take the first turning to the right. 

I arrive at the station. 

Later the class repeated the sentences when the 
teacher gave the verb, and then one pupil repeated 
the whole when the teacher gave the verb. After 
the series had been thoroughly grasped the gramma- 
tical points came up for discussion. 

The third lesson was an English lesson to 1 1 
pupils of 17 years (average). The class was 
reading Stanley Weyman's Gentleman of France — 



39 

and one pupil gave in excellent English a resume of 
the preceding chapter — then the events of the book 
afforded matter for conversation. Questions of the 
following type were asked : " Who are the principal 
characters of the book ? What mission had Marsac 
to fulfil ? How did he fulfil this mission ?" and so on. 
Two hours a week are given to English, the principal 
secondary language being German. Though the 
mother tongue of nearly all pupils at this school is 
French, Flemish is much used in conversation and in 
the playground, and in some of the lessons, as for 
instance History and Geography, Flemish is the 
vehicular language. 

In the course of many visits to schools in the 
Walloon district I was especially interested in my 
visit to the Ecole nioyenne for boys at Huy. There is 
very little Flemish in this industrial town, but a 
serious attempt is made throughout the school to 
teach Flemish by the direct method. In all classes 
pupils are taught to use the language, and the lessons 
are from the beginning given in Flemish. Thus the 
pupil performs an action, describing all the time what 
he is doing, and afterwards the action is described 
by another pupil. The actions performed were such 
simple ones as walking to the door, opening it, closing 
it, and returning to the desk, or taking up a book, 
opening it, reading, shutting and returning the book 
to the desk. 

In the afternoon I was present at the Exainen de 



40 

sortie (Leaving Examination). On the result of this 
examination the certificates (leaving) are awarded to 
pupils who are leaving the school. A written exami- 
nation had already taken place and pupils were only 
admitted to the oral if they had done creditably in 
the tirst part. The examining committee consisted 
of the teachers of the various subjects, the president 
being a lawyer representing the Burgomaster. There 
were present on this occasion in addition to the presi- 
dent and the headmaster, four masters and the priest 
who taught divinity. About twenty minutes were 
allotted to each pupil. The priest began the exami- 
nation with such questions as, "What is law?" 
"What is conscience?" "What is mortal sin .^" 
Questions following on the Old Testament, the Deca- 
logue, perjur>', serment utile, serment inutile, theft. 
The pupil answered readily and at times the exami- 
nation took the form of a disputation, the priest 
pressing the pupil with questions arising from his 
answers. " Is it a mortal sin to steal a penny .^" was 
a question which caused the pupil some hesitation. 
The French master followed with questions on the 
theme chosen by the pupil in the concours general 
which had just taken place, and the pupil described 
how he had discussed the benefits of civilization in 
his examination paper. '" Why did you not refer to 
Marchand?" said the master, and then elicited from 
the pupil how much he knew of recent exploration in 
Africa, the slave trade, and the part that England had 



41 

taken in its suppression. Questions in Mathematics 
and Natural Science followed with an examination in 
Book-keeping and Commerce. I was struck with the 
familiarity of the pupil with bills of exchange, pro- 
missory notes, cheques ; samples of all were handed 
to the pupil and he described the meaning of the 
various stamps and signatures. The teaching was 
thoroughly in touch with the actual methods em- 
ployed in the business houses of the country. The 
examination in Flemish consisted of reading from 
an author and then questions (in Flemish) on the 
subject-matter. In this case a poem was taken from 
a book of selections, and the pupil gave an account of 
the author and his other works. Etymological points 
were touched on. The word friihstuck gave rise to a 
comparison between the different names for the meal, 
in English breakfast, French dejeuner, and the deriva- 
tion of each word. Other questions followed on the 
relation of Flemish to German, Platt-deutsch and 
English, and the pupil showed in passing that he had 
read some of the works of the great Platt-deutsch 
novelist Fritz Renter. The questions on Grammar 
dealt with definitions of adverbs, adjectives and the 
conjugation of verbs. When the pupil had thus been 
examined in three subjects, he was given a rest while 
another pupil was examined in Geography. Advan- 
tage was taken of my presence to twit the English 
on their policy in China. Perfide Albion has tried to 
seize all the best parts of the globe, but it is Belgium 



42 

that is to profit by the opening up of China, for *'la 
Wallonie" constructs the raihvay lines for the new 
Chinese railways. After China the Transvaal. Per- 
fide Albion again, but in this part of Belgium at least 
there is little regret that the English language is 
ousting all others. From Geography we pass to 
History, and again the headmaster jestingly ques- 
tions the pupil on Waterloo. The King of the Bel- 
gians recommends the teaching of Patriotism in the 
schools. How can pupils be patriotic if they are not 
proud of their country and its past history? How 
can they be proud if their soldiers did not fight 
bravely? Of course they fought bravely; and so I 
learn it is not the Belgians who ran away at Waterloo, 
but an English cavalry regiment whose colonel led 
them away at full gallop at the very beginning of the 
fight. And how selfish was Wellington ! To protect 
the English troops he placed the Belgian lines in 
front to bear the brunt of the battle. In vain I 
pointed out in a whisper to the Director that if this 
were so, it was Wellington's duty to give the Belgians 
the place of honour. 

The Battle of Quatre Bras also served as an 
example of the heroism of Belgian troops and their 
superiority to other nations. I remembered how firm 
was my belief at school that one English soldier was 
equal to three foreigners. 

Athenee Roy ale at Antiverp. 

Antwerp is far more Flemish than Brussels. Even 



43 

in the Flemish districts of the capital French is much 
spoken. But at Antwerp one hears Flemish on all 
sides ; it is the principal language heard in the trams, 
in the smaller shops, in the streets, at the docks. At 
the Athenee I found that the language most frequently 
spoken was Flemish. 

In the sixth class the pupils were all young Flem- 
ings and made frequent mistakes in French. The 
average age of this class of 33 pupils was 13. The 
lesson consisted of an explanation in French of a 
poem taken from a French reader, Le cJiien et le 
roseau, by La Fontaine. Questions were asked on 
the meanings of words, and difficulties explained by 
means of synonyms ; later grammatical points were 
discussed. Then the pupils gave in their own lan- 
guage the subject-matter of some tales and anecdotes 
which had been previously studied. No Flemish was 
used. 

In the third class of 54 pupils aged 17 to 18 the 
book studied was Boileau's Oeiivres poetiqiies. The 
class was reading UArt Poetique, and the lesson dealt 
with the literary character of Boileau's work, pupils 
taking notes much as in a university. For home- 
work the following was set, " Find the significance of 
the following words, giving examples from poems : 
(i) Cadence, (2) Suspendre I'hemistyche, (3) Coupons 
les mots, (4) Concours odieux." 

In the German class there were 28 pupils, 
the average age being 16. The text-book was 



44 

Deiitsches LesebiicJi cms den besten Schriftstellern, by 
Hebbel and Pol de Mont. The class read in my pre- 
sence Geibel's poem, Hoffjunig, and various pupils 
gave a life of the author, and the ideas of the poem 
were discussed. The only language used was German, 
but at times recourse was had to Flemish, the master 
only using Flemish when the pupils evidently failed 
to follow the sense of his remarks. Words were taken 
which introduced peculiar constructions and pupils 
made sentences containing the same construction. 
The grammar used was of the ordinary type Prac- 
tisch-theorctisch spraakleerer der Hoogduitsch taal, by 
Hebbel and Pol de Mont. 

In the Flemish lesson which I attended the 
teacher was Pol de Mont, the most distinguished poet 
of the Flemish school and an ardent advocate of the 
Flemish language ; the pupils listened with rapt atten- 
tion to a vivid description of the story of Lohengrin. 

In the fifth class a book of selections by Hebbel and 
de Mont was the text-book. Pupils had had some 
verses to learn by heart, and these were said by 
different pupils — the lesson was of the type already 
described, synonyms were given entirely in German. 
The pupils had written out a theme with few mis- 
takes. 

In the Physics class the pupils were taught by 
means of Flemish. Flemish is used in Physics and 
Geography, but in all the other classes the vehicular 
language at this, as at other Athenees, is French. 



45 

Ecole moyenne, Antzverp. 

At the Ecole moyenne des garcons the pupils 
started in the first class by learning sounds rather 
than letters. No letters were known at first and the 
pupils simply imitated sounds. In the second class 
the pupils had a lesson in French, and afterwards the 
pupils read. In the next class (age 8) the pupils per- 
formed calculations in both languages. 

Pupils enter the school at the age of six and 
remain till i6 or 17. In the large girls' school at 
Antwerp I found nothing particularly worthy of note 
in the teaching. 

The German lessons were given on the exercise- 
book system ; no attempt was made to get the 
children to converse, and the classes were too large. 
At the Institut Communal no. i, a secondary school, 
I attended two lessons; one by an Englishman teach- 
ing English, and another by a German also taking 
his own language. They did not seem to me worthy 
of notice, the classes wrote exercises and there was 
no attempt at conversation. 

In the course of another visit to the Athenee at 
Antwerp, I attended a lesson by Pol de Mont, and 
also one in German by Professor Nietschke on Heine. 
The pupils had a good knowledge of the principal 
works of Goethe and Schiller. In the commercial 
section German correspondence is taught, letters are 
written on various subjects. I heard one on the 
various kinds of wool. 



46 

At the Athenee of Bruges, where there are 200 
pupils, of whom 120 are Flemings, and 80 Walloons 
knowing no Flemish, the teachers are supposed to 
use the two languages continually in teaching. In 
practice, however, the Professor speaks the language 
he prefers. The pupils write their essays in either 
Flemish or French. If Flemish is the language of the 
home, the essay is written generally in Flemish. On 
Prize-day the languages are used alternately — French 
one year, Flemish the next The correspondence 
with parents is in both languages in most schools of 
the Flemish district. Some parents prefer Flemish, 
but others consider it an insult to be addressed in that 
language. " Do you think I cannot understand 
French?" said an indignant parent to the Director 
of an Athenee who had written to him in Flemish. 

In some of the schools in the German district, as 
at Seraing and Liege, I attended lessons in German, 
taken instead of Flemish, and found the pupils able 
to maintain a conversation in German. 

In addition to the State secondary schools, there 
are many schools maintained by the Catholic clergy 
with the aid of subsidies from the Government. I 
was not permitted to attend lessons in these schools, 
but from interviews which I had with the Directors 
at Brussels, Oudenarde and elsewhere, I gather that 
these schools resemble the State schools. In Flanders 
the Clergy are very strong supporters of the Flemish 
language and encourage the study of it in their schools. 



47 

Each year there is a competitive examination 
(concours general) for all the secondary schools, when 
the scholars who enter are arranged in order of merit. 
There is a growing feeling in favour of suppressing 
this examination. Many feel that the conditions of 
language, etc., are so different in different towns, that 
the comparison of schools by the result of this exami- 
nation is misleading. 



NORMAL SCHOOLS (FOR ELEMENTARY 
AND SECONDARY TEACHERS). 

There are no pupil teachers in Belgium. In the 
employment of children to teach children England 
enjoys a " splendid isolation." I found that teachers 
and Inspectors were greatly surprised that in England 
young pupils should be employed in teaching. The 
course in the normal schools for elementary teachers 
is four years, the age of entrance being 15. In 
addition to the mother tongue one language is obli- 
gatory and to this three hours per week are given 
throughout the course. 

The normal schools at Bruges, Ghent and Liege 
are reckoned among the architectural beauties of 
those towns. They are indeed palaces of learning. 
The Belgians of to-day show in these modern 
buildings that they retain all the love of splendid 
architecture for which their forefathers were famous. 

For teachers in the Ecoles moyennes there are 
courses at the normal schools of Ghent and Liege. 
The minimum age of entrance is 17 and the course 
lasts two years. Teachers in the Athenees must 
hold a university degree. 



49 

At the normal school of Ghent there are three 
sections: 

(i) Normal school for primary teachers of the 
district. 

(2) A Practising school consisting of 

(i) Preparatory section ... 6 years, 

(2) Ecole moyenne 3 years. 

This practising school is therefore really a middle 
and elementary school for the town, but pupils pay 
for admission — there are other free schools in the 
town. 

(3) Normal school for secondary teachers. 

In the training college for secondary teachers the 
teaching is partly in Flemish, partly in French- 
German and English are taught by means of Flemish 
in so far as another language is used at all— but 
the great aim here is to learn the new language by 
using it. History, Geography, Natural Science and 
Mathematics are taught half in French and half in 
Flemish. 

In the normal school French is begun at the end 
of the first year. In this school also the language is 
Flemish, but repetitions of lessons are often given in 
French. 

The Director told me that the Walloon schools 
do better in the concours general than the Flemish, 
and he attributed this to the bilingual character of 
the Flemish schools. The pupils are somewhat con- 
fused with the two languages, and there is a great 

D. 4 



50 

mental effort in changing from one language to 
another. The Director thinks that better results 
would follow if one language were the recognised 
language, the mother tongue, while the other should 
be secondary to it. He does not approve of the 
attempt to give a nation two mother tongues. In 
Denmark, in Brittany, in Switzerland, one language 
is recognised as the language of the country, but in 
Belgium all is, theoretically at least — bilingual. 

There is no doubt, however, that as far as the 
learning of modern languages is concerned, the 
Flemings are far in advance of the Walloons. 

Ecole Nor male at Liege. (Girls.) 

At this school I had the advantage of being 
present at an examination of students who had 
completed a year's work. 

The examination in Modern Languages was con- 
ducted by a jury consisting of three persons. The 
president was the Government Inspector Kleyntjens, 
and at his side sat the teacher of the subject. The 
first student was examined in the English language 
and the whole examination was conducted in English 
by the teacher. The other two members of the jury 
also put questions from time to time as they con- 
sidered it necessary. The year's work consisted 
of Dickens's Christinas Carol with Grammar and 
Literature arising from the subject-matter. After 
the student had read a page (selected by the teacher), 
she gave the subject-matter of what she had read in 



51 

her own words, and then in answer to questions from 
the teacher described the character of the book, and 
the aim of the writer. Then a summary of the book 
was given, and the substance of various scenes. A 
short Hfe of Dickens followed, an account of some 
contemporary authors and a list of similar works. 
The examination having lasted ten minutes, the 
remaining half of the time was given to Grammar, 
the tenses of the verbs, nouns formed from adjectives 
occurring in the text, plurals, cases of the pronouns 
and nouns, genders. No subtleties or minutiae of 
Grammar were touched on, all the Grammar questions 
being on ordinary points which arose naturally out 
of the text. When the twenty minutes had elapsed, 
the Inspector decided whether the student should 
receive the note bien, tres bien, or simply suffisant. 
Such a method of examining is the most satisfactory 
. one for Modern Languages ; there was the obvious 
disadvantage of nervousness during a viva-voce ex- 
amination, but on the other hand the real knowledge 
of the pupil revealed itself more fully than could be 
the case with printed questions. Even when a mistake 
was made the answers which followed showed whether 
the Grammar was known. The whole examination 
was conducted in English and the pronunciation 
was remarkably accurate. In many cases insufficient 
attention is given to the sounds at the commencement 
and the defects are not corrected later, indeed they 
often tend to grow worse. Elementary mistakes in 

4—2 



52 

pronunciation should be carefully corrected at first 
and continual practice given to such sounds as th 
for students of English and the u for students of 
French. I remember hearing M. Michel Breal cite 
the case of an Englishman, who had lived in Paris 
for over thirty years, but whose pronunciation was 
very faulty although he gained a remarkable know- 
ledge of French, and wrote a valuable dictionary 
(French-English and English-French). His facility 
in speaking French was remarkable, yet he never 
improved his pronunciation, and as he grew older, 
M. Breal affirmed that the initial defects became 
accentuated, so that at last his French was almost 
unintelligible. No doubt M. Breal humorously 
exaggerated. But I have met French teachers in 
England whose pronunciation does not improve with 
time, and this simply from the continual mis-pronun- 
ciation of certain simple sounds, easily learnt with a 
little care at the commencement. 

The next pupil was examined in German. The 
year's work was Goethe's Herviann imd DorotJieay 
and the same method was pursued, a portion of the 
text was read, questions and answers followed on the 
poem, the subject-matter, the various types of poetic 
composition, and an account was given in the student's 
own words of the poem. Lastly came questions on 
the Grammar. The last pupil was a Fleming who 
had studied a book of selections from French authors. 
After reading a letter of Balzac's, the pupil gave the 



53 

subject-matter in her own words, a short account of 
Balzac and his works and of other French noveHsts 
of the same epoch, with an account of their principal 
works. Questions on the Grammar followed. Al- 
though the Flemings take more readily to the modern 
languages than the Walloons the result at this Walloon 
college could not, I am sure, be surpassed. 

Lesson at the Ecole Nor male of Ghent. 

There were 15 pupils who had learnt German 
for one year only. The master took the building of 
a house and began by asking one pupil what would 
be the first step to take. " Firstly a site would be 
chosen and bought ; then I would ask an architect 
to draw up a plan of the house. The plan would 
then be given to the builder, who would lay a foun- 
dation. On the foundation the walls are built, the 
ground floor, the first story, the second story." Then 
followed the names of the various rooms ; drawing- 
room, dining-room, kitchen, cellar, with their positions 
in the building and the stairs leading from one story 
to another. Then followed a description of the garden 
with the names of the various trees and fruits. Then 
the trees led to a description of the different aspects 
of the garden at different seasons, of the apple-trees, 
bare of leaves in winter, then green with new leaves 
and afterwards with the buds and fruit. 

Then followed the different parts of the trees, the 
roots, branches, twigs, leaves. In the whole lesson 
no word save German was spoken and the lesson was 



54 

a striking example of the possibility of dispensing 
with translation. 

Three students recited poems in a dramatic 
manner, and each piece served as a subject for con- 
versation. 

English Lesso7t at the Ecole Nonnale of Ghent. 

The class consisted of 14 pupils at the end 
of the first year, Two poems, Tzvo Rats and 
My Dog, were recited with excellent accent. One 
student then gave a description of the room and its 
furniture, the windows, the best places for the desks 
as regards light, etc. Another student in answer to 
a question described a river, its banks, the left and 
right side, etc. The Thames was taken and the 
students were questioned as to the reason for its 
importance. One of the students compared the 
Thames with the Scheldt, and London with Antwerp, 
and so by means of questions from the master the 
pupils described London as a business town, a uni- 
versity town, its trade, manufacture and shipbuilding. 
Another pupil described the best way to see London, 
the advantages of the omnibus, tram and cab. In 
one year the pupils had acquired a good vocabulary 
of the words used in ordinary intercourse and under- 
stood and spoke English. The books used were such 
as to familiarize them with the ordinary every-day 
language. Such works as the plays of Shakespeare, 
containing words and phrases difficult even for English 
boys, are never used in Belgium. Preference is given 



55 

to Dickens and such modern novelists as Conan 
Doyle, Stanley Weyman, and F. Anstey. 

At \h.Q Ecole Nonnale of Brtissels (hoys) I attended 
several lessons, the most interesting being a lesson on 
Flemish literature, in which Walloon pupils discussed 
in Flemish the substance of a poem by a Flemish 
author. 

The entrance-hall of this school contains an ex- 
cellent school museum. The walls are covered with 
diagrams, pictures and casts, and the centre of the hall 
is filled with glass-cases containing specimens of stuffed 
animals, coins, minerals, etc. At the Ecole Normale 
for girls I attended an excellent English lesson to girls 
of the second year. The text-book was Dalgleish's 
Great Authors of Literature, published by Nelson. 
Questions and answers in English followed the read- 
ing of an extract, and I was astonished at the facility 
with which the pupils understood and answered my 
questions on the contents of the book. 

In the Kindergarten in connection with the same 
school I found children of five and six being taught 
both languages. Objects were named in Flemish and 
French, and the children sang and recited in both 
languages. 

The Normal School of Bruges. Lessofi in FrencJi. 

I attended a lesson which was given to pupils 
of the third year. The book used was a selection 
of French poems and prose extracts. A girl recited 
La Bataille by Lamartine, with excellent accent, 

L.ofC. 



56 

after which the teacher questioned various students 
on the metre, on the various types of poetry, epic, 
lyric and dramatic, and on the lessons which were 
taught by this particular poem. After a number of 
questions on the form and matter of the poem, the 
life of the author was taken, and a short account 
given of Lamartine with a criticism of his writings. 
His work as a historian suggested further questions on 
contemporary historians, the differences between them 
and the merits and defects of Lamartine. In discuss- 
ing Lamartine's style — full of colour and harmony — 
other masters of the descriptive style, Vigny and 
Hugo, were named, and their principal works cited. 

Another poem, the Derniers vers of Chenier, was 
recited, paraphrased, and the chief ideas which it 
contained commented on. Questions arose on each 
line of the poem, and comparisons w^ere drawn between 
Chenier and Delille. 

The lesson showed that the students possessed 
intimate acquaintance with the literature of the period, 
and was a proof of the thoroughness with v/hich the 
work had been prepared. 

Not a word of Flemish was used in the lesson, 
when necessary the explanation was given by means 
of synonyms, and the accent of the pupils was ex- 
cellent. The pupils were evidently encouraged to 
read the best works, not to "get up" books about 
the great authors. In the examination at Liege also 
I saw that the pupils had frequent opportunities of 
showing the extent of their reading. 



CONCLUSION. 

The description I have given of Belgian Second- 
ary schools shows that pupils " who have gained 
the Leaving Certificate" have a good knowledge of 
two languages and are able to converse in one or 
two others. The need of knowing three or four 
languages is keenly felt in Belgium, dependent as 
it is on the great nations which surround it. Belgian 
manufactures, Belgian commerce are dependent on 
other Europeans who speak different languages — 
Germans, French, English. The man of one language 
is at a great disadvantage in the country where 
different languages meet the ear every day. Adver- 
tisements for clerks, travellers, or other business men 
generally refer to three or four languages as necessary. 
Even servants must know two languages. In such 
a country the necessity of knowing many languages 
is pressed home to every schoolboy. And the pro- 
ficiency reached in Belgian schools is therefore due, 
not only to good teaching, but to the strong feeling of 
all the pupils of the immediate usefulness of such 
knowledge. 

As linguists the Flemings far surpass the Wal- 
loons ; they know their mother tongue, they learn 



58 

French, and are more ready to go on to other lan- 
guages than the Walloon, who is perfectly content 
with his French and whose tongue has not been so 
much trained. The feeling that formerly existed that 
Flemish was a useless ballast has now almost com- 
pletely died away. 

In Wales a good grammatical knowledge of Welsh 
with the linguistic training it brings is unquestionably 
good educational training, and it is regrettable that 
such a valuable educational instrument should be left 
on one side by the schools. I have often regretted 
that my education, received in a school in the heart 
of Wales, did not include some knowledge of the 
language and literature of my own country. I have 
been ashamed to confess to German students that 
I knew nothing of the Mabinogion, and to have to 
evade questions on the Welsh language from Flemings 
and Frenchmen. With a few hours' judicious teach- 
ing per week a fair knowledge of Welsh might have 
been acquired which would have been greatly in- 
creased by conversation outside. The opportunities 
of practice in Welsh surrounded us, but were seldom 
taken advantage of. If the school had given a start, 
if the school had supplied the impulse, the pupils 
would have quickly made use of the knowledge gained 
in school, and added to it at home and in the street. 
This knowledge of Welsh would have been imme- 
diately useful to the majority, the practice of using 
the two languages would have been an excellent 



59 

linguistic training for all. Many hold Welsh to be 
a useless encumbrance to pupils who will never need 
it in after life. Many Walloons who know no lan- 
guage but French ridicule the learning of Flemish 
as a useless encumbrance. "We would rather learn 
Chinese,'' they say, " it would be more useful." But 
it is the Fleming who already knows Flemish and 
French who is readiest to learn Chinese, as he is the 
first to learn English and German in Belgium to-day. 
And the Welshman who knows his own language as 
well as English is much better prepared to acquire 
other modern languages than a monoglot. Welsh, 
begun in school and continued afterwards, as it 
doubtless would be by the majority of pupils, would 
be more immediately useful than French. The 
amount of French which pupils have carried away 
from our schools in the past has not enabled them 
to ask the simplest question or to read with ease a 
French book. Far from being a disadvantage, the 
learning of Welsh would be a help to the ac- 
quisition of other languages. But in any teaching 
of Welsh in schools a proper allowance must be made 
for it in the time-table — an allowance of half-an-hour 
or an hour per week for the language is useless. 
Germans and Belgians do not place a language on 
the curriculum unless they are prepared to give it at 
least four hours a week at the commencement. 

With regard to the method of teaching, it is 
absurd to adopt the direct method if the teacher has 



6o 

not a good knowledge of the language. In some 
schools teachers, whose French is quite unintelligible 
to Frenchmen, have been using the direct method. 
The holiday courses in France and Germany provide 
means for the better training of teachers. Within the 
last three or four years a large number of text-books 
based on the direct method have been published in 
England, of which the best-known, Denfs French 
Course written by Mr Rippman, is already widely 
used in Wales. Although the fullest developement 
of the direct method of teaching languages is to be 
sought in Germany, this report on Belgian schools, 
where the method is at present but imperfectly under- 
stood and only partially adopted, may not be without 
some value. I hope that it may at least direct in- 
creased attention to the exposition of the direct 
method of teaching languages to be found in the 
works of Victor, in the special reports published by 
the Board of Education, and in Miss Brebner's report 
on Modern Language teaching in Germany. 



NOTE 

BY 

W. EDWARDS, M.A., H.M.I., 

MEMBER OF THE STANDING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF WALES, 

ON THE 

REPORT ON BILINGUAL TEACHING 
IN BELGIAN SCHOOLS 

PRESENTED TO THE COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY 
OF WALES 

BY 

Mr T. R. DAWES, MA., 

HEADMASTER OF THE PEMBROKE DOCK COUNTY SCHOOL, 
GILCHRIST STUDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

Mr Dawes spent five weeks in Belgium in the early 
part of 1899 ^^^ eight weeks in the summer of that 
year. 

Through the good offices of the Belgian Minister 
of Education he was enabled to visit educational 
institutions of every order, from the primary school 
to the university, and he appears to have made ex- 
cellent use of his opportunities. In his prefatory 
remarks he writes : — '' I am deeply grateful to the 
Court for the opportunity I have enjoyed of seeing 



62 

the schools of Belgium and of familiarizing myself 
with the Flemish language. I trust that my report 
may have some effect in developing the teaching of 
Modern Languages according to the best methods 
and of showing that the utilization for educational 
purposes of the native language of a country — though 
this language may not be widely used outside its 
borders — tends to aid the acquisition of other Modern 
Languages." 

Mr Dawes is not exactly breaking new ground in 
this. In the volumes of Special Reports, published 
under the direction of Mr Michael Sadler, may be 
found a paper by Miss Montgomery on the teaching 
of Modern Languages in Belgium and Holland. But 
this fact does not diminish the value of Mr Dawes' 
report, for he approaches his task from the point of 
view of one who himself lives and works in a bilingual 
country, and the information which he presents to us 
is, therefore, invested with a special significance. 

He visited schools and colleges of various types 
in Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Liege and outlying 
parts of the Walloon district. Like Miss Montgomery 
he describes with warm appreciation the success which 
the direct method brings with it, whether the lan- 
guage be one of the two current in Belgium, French 
and Flemish, or a foreign language as English and 
German. 

Mr Dawes had probably not the time to visit 
village schools which would have presented a closer 



63 

similarity with the conditions which generally exist 
in Wales. Being himself in charge of a secondary 
school he naturally gives his attention mainly to 
forms of education higher than elementary, but his 
report contains a valuable notice of the work which 
is being done in language-teaching in the primary 
schools of the largest towns, such as Brussels and 
Antwerp, which should give food for reflection to 
the managers of education in the urban districts of 
Wales. 

Mr Dawes gives us highly interesting and sugges- 
tive descriptions of language lessons heard by him, ex- 
tracts from directors' instructions to teachers, records 
of conversations with experts, and many incidental 
details which throw light upon the general state of 
education in Belgium. I consider that he has quite 
justified his appointment as Gilchrist student. Quite 
apart from the actual value of his report, it is a 
distinct gain that a native of Wales who holds an 
educational post in Wales should be in possession of 
an experience, which will enable him not only to do 
his own work with better effect but also to assist in 
the general movement for the improvement of lan- 
guage-teaching in our own bilingual country. 



CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



